27 Comments

    • Yup. And squabbling over a few dollars isn’t going to make me rich or amend all the wasted money. I think it would be different if I was looking to do this as a career. I just want less stuff!

  1. Maureen

    Good strategy. I for one have decided to close my closet with almost 140k followers and over 1200 sales I’m just tired of it all the sharing and the constant issues with buyers. I just feel like it’s a huge time suck and people do t want to pay much for anything these days. I joined in 2013 and used to do really well on here to the point I sourced hundreds of items to keep up woth demand. I also found that smaller sizes do not sell well at all. If anyone knows of a platform for that I’d love to know. Thx for posting!

  2. I’ve noticed too there is just so much more supply on Poshmark now as the user base expanded. Buyers have more options, if they don’t like the price they’ll buy something else or find the same exact article of clothing and buy from whomever has the best price.

  3. Oh lordy, Poshmark is an interesting place. I buy on there and I assume that the offered price, or the discount they send after I’ve liked the item is a fair price. So many sellers “suddenly discovered it was the wrong listing” when I accepted their price. Ma’ams! Just list a truthful price and be done. I’m not here to play games. I’m trying to find the hot pink trousers in my size. And no, I don’t want to bundle something from your closet or an extra “thank you” with my purchase. I just want the item I picked. Sigh.

    • Trish

      Oh my! I’ve never told anyone that “it was the wrong listing”! I’ve told people that the item got damaged if I went to ship it and noticed flaws that were previously not noticed; then I sent them the item for free (as I can’t believe many people would pay for a damaged item). And I agree with you on a “free gift” with every purchase. Now I’m stuck with something from the dollar store I did not want or a piece of clothing they could not get rid of, is not even my size, or is , well, let’s be honest, ugly! I will either list the item to sell or give it away (although come to think of it, I actually did throw away a brand new brown sweater….. yeah, I could have donated it, but man, was it ugly!)

      if you’re still looking for hot pink pants, come visit my closet. I have a pair that I’ll be happy to sell you! ?

      And on the topic at hand? I do source to sell. It’s fun for me and keeps me busy (I was a Social Worker but am now disabled, so I need to do something to keep myself from going insane). So when another seller (who’s items are actually luxury with the price tags to boot) gives me a lowball offer, I politely thank them, wish them well, then block ‘em. Petty? Yeah, but it makes me feel better. Lol If it’s a lowball from just a buyer? I’ll counter and “play the game”. If they write something positive about the item with a lowball? I’ll usually give it to them. I’ve found that those people are both sincere and very budget conscious. I love helping others. So, I guess for me, it really depends on how I view the other buyer.

      Thanks so much for your article. I enjoyed seeing another perspective on the situation. ☺️

  4. Mike

    Here’s another thing as a buyer on Poshmark. If you don’t like or want to negotiate a price then this site isn’t for you. For me, the offer button opens up negotiating. The first price I offer may be a lowball offer but that is the lowest price I will pay. I expect you will come down further and I will counter higher.

    • Ellyn

      Offers may be ok in some situations, but I state up front that I price NEW designer items super low and as a result, am unable to accept offers. I simply do not have time for back and forth offers as I have a child with serious medical issues.

  5. Rachael

    I really like this article! I sell on Poshmark mainly because I hate to give away nice clothes and things for free. I definitely do more shopping than selling on Poshmark and selling is simply a way to support my shopping habit.

    I don’t give lowball offers, but 99% of the time I give an offer instead of buying outright. It’s a huge turn off when sellers will post things like “Lowball offers will be blocked”. Blocked? Really? I get lowball offers too and understand how it can be annoying, but is it that hard to hit the decline button? I just don’t understand why people get so outraged about it.

    But I think it’s smart for you to remember your purpose of selling and remember that your pricing should not be based on what you paid for it, but what it’s worth. People will sell something for a ridiculous price (imo) when I go on the website and find the same item for less money. Now that Poshmark is required to collect sales tax and the shipping costs have risen, I have to add on average another $10 to my purchase which makes me rethink the purchase altogether and if I’m really saving money.

    Also (sorry I know this is going long) there is a risk associated with many items…will it fit me? am I going to like the color? will I actually wear this? Etc. So in financial terms, there is a discount associated with the risk. If it’s a brand I know and I know the sizing well etc, I will pay more because I know what I’m getting. But it it’s an item that I’m taking a gamble on the fit, color, quality, etc. I will expect to pay less for that item. These are basic financial concepts that apply to many other aspects of life.

    Anyway, all of that to say, I really liked your article!

  6. Erin

    Your article made my day. I’m a seller of the decluttering variety and a buyer. Frankly, I don’t think of Poshmark as a fancy department store. Most items are used and need to be appropriately priced. That does not mean only 20% off because you wore the item once. It’s more like half off and then some. The car analogy is perfect. The second you drive a new car off the lot, it depreciates like hell. The second you take the tags off and wear the item, it depreciates like hell. You’ll love this. Last night, I made a 40% off offer on a top. Instead of countering, the seller blackballed me, i.e., blocked me. The thing is, I was in the process of offering her full price on an identical item in a different color to make up the difference. I’m new and didn’t know how to use the bundle feature. But she blocked me so fast, I couldn’t make the other offer. As you used to do, she took the lowball offer personally. She lost hundreds of dollars from me for her NWT Free People stuff by being arrogant. Of course I was hopeful I’d get a good deal, but more along the 20% off line when the two items were looked at as a whole. Because she took it personally, she also lost plenty of future sales. I love Free People because they are one of the only designers that sells 100% cotton. I’m allergic to synthetic, and Free People is her brand. Poshmark is a business platform. Feelings have no place. Don’t blackball someone, counter. As a seller, my Old Gringo boots that no longer fit are doing no good stuck on the top shelf of my closet. Half off plus 20% off that is my starting point. Lowball me all day long. Just make an offer. I don’t have to take it. But I just might.

    • Thanks for the comment, Erin! I definitely think the threats on Posh are so over the top. It’s the whole point of the “offer” option, isn’t it? Good luck selling!

    • GC

      Hi everyone!
      I completely agree with Erin here. I am both a buyer AND a seller on Poshmark and I also cross-sell on eBay, Mercari and Tradesy. Frankly, I am a buyer AND seller on all of these platforms and have been selling and buying mainly on Ebay and Amazon since 1998.

      Based on my eCommerce experience here’s what I learned:

      1.) If you want to make eCommerce a legitimate business (one where you report your gross profits on your income tax, which according to the IRS is NOT reporting a loss for more than 3 years,) you will have to have a reseller’s license and buy products at wholesale or liquidation prices in order to make a CONTINUOUS profit on these eCommerce sites.

      For example, I know of one friend/colleague who made at least $200,000 a year selling liquidated items on Amazon and Ebay. She would buy pallets from Auctions or jobbers that had 100+ units in them consisting of overstock New clothing, Returned items or irregular items from retailers that want to get rid of them from their stores’ inventories. She was a Power Seller on Ebay and a successful seller on Amazon until Amazon began banning third party sellers from selling name brand, copyrighted items WITHOUT the manufacturer’s written authorization.

      My point is: in order for a Poshmark Seller to make a viable business like the kind of numbers that my friend/colleague is getting, you will have to sell THOUSANDS of items and have a warehouse to store these items and Poshmark is NOT the right eCommerce platform to do this. So sure, you can go and try to do “thrift-store arbitrage” or “retail arbitrage” but listing 2000+ items on Poshmark AND THEN having to deal with individual offers from buyers constantly is a tremendous amount of work and you most likely will not make a significant amount of money to call it a legitimate business (as per the IRS’s definition.)

      2.) Poshmark’s layout on the smartphone, in my opinion, is not conducive to selling 2000+ items because it is overwhelmingly a burden to manage as a seller AND is truly ANNOYING as a buyer when I want to see a Posh Seller’s closet and it has over 1000+ listings! It’s begins to hurt my eyes and give me a headache when I continuously scroll and scroll to the point where I just give up and go to another seller that has fewer items as it is easier on my eyes and my time (it takes up a LOT of time to scroll just to get to the seller’s entire closet, especially when there are over 500+ listings! I just want to see the closet quickly and move on to other closets.)

      3.) Clothing and accessories are NOT a wise investment. They are not like Real Estate, Stocks, Gold, Silver or certain Collectibles like comics or baseball trading cards, etc. As mentioned in this blog, clothing and accessories are just like most cars…they depreciate and lose their value!! Keep that in mind as you are selling on Poshmark! Which brings me to my next point…

      4.) Because clothing and accessories depreciate in value, you will most definitely WILL NEVER RECOUP what you initially paid for it! Exceptions would be: if you purchased a collectible garment or accessory that a celebrity has worn or purchased a vintage piece of designer couture garment that is a One of A Kind piece or limited edition piece. But even that is a Hit-or-Miss scenario or a gamble with collectibles! There are just way too many garments and accessories of many brands, that a seller will never get “equity” on their clothes and accessories because the market is saturated.

      5.) I agree with the author, Penny…Poshmark really ends up being an eCommerce site to find a bargain and buy them OR to sell your unwanted items that are taking up too much space in your house and that you no longer need (decluttering.) So don’t expect to be rich selling on Poshmark.

      6.) Finally, I view Poshmark as SERVICE to help me get rid of my unwanted items – NOT to make big business or profit from it because of the factors I mentioned above.

      In summary, by keeping all of this in mind, the low ball offers that I receive, do not ever offend me. It’s just business. Period. Of course, there are limits to what I am willing to accept (for example, I would never sell at a negative where I am PAYING Poshmark to give my item away for literally “free” and where I am losing money.) As long as I am getting SOME money back from what I paid for it, I am satisfied, rather than donating my item for other eCommerce sellers to make money off of it!

      I hope this helps with keeping low offers in perspective. Sorry for the long novel. =)

      GC
      @gvoxx_posh

    • GC

      **One last thing…if you are getting too emotional when selling your stuff, DON’T SELL IT! All this means is that you are NOT ready to part with it and you are too emotionally attached to your item!

      Too many sellers get offended by low offers because they are still attached to their item(s).

      Therefore, only sell when you are completely detached from your item!

      Hope this helps!

      GC
      @gvoxx_posh

  7. Ann

    My reaction varies. I try to price with a 20-25 percent cushion to allow for offers and cleanouts and still make a bit of money. I personally would never offer more than 25 percent off the asking price but that is me.

    If I open the closet on a lowball offer and see nothing, I will counter as it is likely someone who will meet in the middle. In some cases for lower end items I will flat out accept and did that with a belt and a tee shirt this past week. I had one with a story about not being able to afford right now; explained that the risk of losing a NWT item is there as it was in demand (23 likers) and a good price. She wound up blocking herself as there is a limited number of offers you can make apparently and we went past it. Someone else bought it at the list price.

    Recently, I private offered a Prada bag that was already 40 percent off my original price (and that was 70 percent off retail; my original price was less than others are asking.) I got a lowball offer which was almost 50 percent off the offer. Upon opening her closet, I see a ton of used Coach, DB and MK bags for 50 to 100 dollars more than what she offered me for the Prada. I auto declined on that one. Got a 60 percent off lowball on a pair of Tory Burch boots. I countered with the offer price as that was the lowest I would let them go at. It was a closet full of nice stuff as well at higher prices. I heard nothing.

    Once my absolute lowest price is established with no buyers I delete and relist, regardless of losing likers. If the likers were serious buyers they would have pulled the trigger.

    Blocking–only did once on a buyer with a return item she said was “filthy and covered with cat hair”. I don’t have a cat so I knew it was a BS excuse for “didn’t fit me”. I got the return (it had blonde hair on it–I am also not blonde) washed and relisted it; sold a week later and the person loved it. A “bad” offer is no reason to block.

  8. Carolyn

    Thanks so much for this great article, Penny!
    I signed up for Poshmark a few years back, but only recently started using it–just buying, for now. I still feel like a ‘babe in the woods'(!), but your perspective was invaluable. Can’t wait to check out more of your site.

  9. alex

    lowball is all relative to each person and what an item is worth to them. I always bid lower to start the barter process hoping they will counter-some decline(why i dont know cause they could easily counter)- Too many are personally attached to stuff they sell on posh whereas ebay seller s are less invested and easier to work with. I dont sell on posh but i do on ebay but all my buying on posh is very difficult because of people being so attached to stuff they sell.

  10. Jamie

    I only buy the occasional item on Poshmark because of the attitudes of so many of the sellers there.
    I will not buy from anyone with the “chart” posted in their ad, or from Poshers that have aggressive language in their listing or closet. I’ve never seen such poor attitudes from people that want you to buy from them and I’ve been on eBay for 20 years! It’s laughable that countering takes “too much time” when it’s a few clicks on the phone that is most likely already in their hand.
    No offer is ever worth blocking a potential customer and low ball offers are NOT a sign of a problem buyer. Counter and see what happens. There are too many comments on Posh with sellers complaining about offers and bragging about how they block potential customers.

  11. Aleh Veras

    Why do sellers turn down $5 less then thier countets? Starts at $60 listed…i say $30…they say $40..i say $35….they say nothing!!! My counter expires….i re offer at $36 they counter at $40. I counter at $38!!! They ghost….why? Over $2?

  12. Poshessa

    Poshmark takes a 20% cut on items above $15, and a flat rate fee of $3 on items below $15. You have to consider the listing fee as part of the offer. I try to be flexible but if it ends up costing me money to “sell” an item, is not worth it. At that point, would rather give it away to someone I know for free or donate to a thrift store that supports a charity/worthy cause. I also donate to free stores that help needy people.

    Bundling offers or offering a Bundle sale is a great way to give a value while decluttering and reducing Posh fees.

    Finally, I am really critical on what I list. If the item is not likely to make a profit, I won’t post it.

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